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Six Try Scots Put Portuguese To The Sword

Scotland under-18 were rewarded for a match in which they dominated possession with victory over their Portuguese counterparts in the FIRA/AER European championship in Madrid today.

The Scots scored six tries and now move forward to the fifth place play-off on Saturday. “The boys will take a lot of confidence from what has happened today and I’m sure our execution will be better on Saturday,” declared head coach Eddie Pollock.

Portugal, who had tested Ireland in their previous match, tackled tigerishly throughout today’s game. “We had played well in three of our four previous games so it was important that we won today,” Pollock noted.

“Our setpiece was really good again today and I’d estimate we probably won about 70% of possession. If we had executed better then we could have scored another few tries but we did create a lot.”

Scotland led 13-5 by half-time, having recovered from an opening try by Portugal. Ed Farquharson continued his prolific try scoring form, claiming the first score for the Scots then Ben Cooper’s penalty was soon augmented by a try from full-back Gavin Lowe.

Straight from the second-half restart Farquharson (Aberdeen Grammar/Cults Academy) dotted down for his sixth try in five under-18 internationals this season, continuing to perform his basic skills well.

Lowe was next to complete his brace, a fine piece of individual footwork taking him home. Cooper converted that score and although Portugal’s forward effort saw them reply with a converted try, Scotland finished strongly with further tries from Sam Moncur and Andrew Cramond.

Scotland will now face Georgia in their final match on Saturday, the Georgians having overcome Italy 20-18 this afternoon.